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INSTITUTE INDEX: The backlash against big-money politics

Percent of U.S. voters who say super PACs -- independent committees that can raise unlimited funds from individuals, corporations and other groups -- should be illegal: 69

Percent of political independents who say super PACs, which were made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision prohibiting restrictions on political expenditures by corporations, should be illegal: 78

Date on which a federal appeals court unanimously upheld New York City's campaign finance laws, with renowned Judge Guido Calabresi writing a concurring opinion lamenting the Citizens United decision: 12/21/2011

Date on which the Montana Supreme Court also challenged the reasoning behind Citizens United by upholding a state law banning the use of corporate treasury funds for electioneering, with a ruling saying the state remained "vulnerable to continued efforts of corporate control to the detriment of democracy": 12/30/2011

Date on which the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania's FlackCheck.org project launched "Stand by Your Ad" to fight deceptive super PAC advertising: 2/21/2012

Date on which FlackCheck.org issued an alert to Mississippi broadcast stations warning them that they were airing misleading attacks by a pro-Romney super PAC: 3/9/2012

Number of Mississippi broadcast stations that aired at least one of the misleading ads: 14

Date on which FlackCheck.org issued an alert to Alabama broadcast stations warning them that they were airing similarly misleading ads: 3/9/2012

Number of Alabama broadcast stations that aired at least one of the misleading ads: 19

Amount that broadcast stations are expected to rake in this year from political ads: $3 billion

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory has become a leading national advocate for expanded offshore drilling — a role that builds on almost three decades of his close personal, economic and political ties to the energy industry.

Nine states, four of them in the South, hold judicial elections but don't ban judges from seeking campaign cash from people that could appear before them. Following a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Florida case upholding such bans, judicial watchdogs are working to change the law in these outlier states.

Bills to provide additional funding for charter schools were introduced this session at the North Carolina legislature. Most of the sponsors have benefited from campaign donations or independent spending by groups advocating school privatization.